Ryanair reimbursement & compensation – next steps – MCOL?

[Cinimo]

Hello,
I had a flight from BCN to STN on Ryanair cancelled during late summer this year. The next available flight was the following day. I submitted three separate claims via RyanAir website (because the website requires them to be submitted separately) for reimbursement of costs for meals and hotel, EU 261 compensation and thirdly a refund for the “regular” fare (which includes, priority boarding, a larger cabin bag and seat selection) because they weren’t able to offer this on the replacement flight because it was already sold out.

I have received a partial refund for meals and hotel – only partial because they entirely ignored some of the meals and say my hotel costs were excessive. Given that I moved to a hotel less than 50% the cost of where I stayed the previous night (because the amount the hotel wanted to extend by one night truly was excessive) I think it was very reasonable. For compensation, after a few months, they have now replied claiming my original flight operated normally and I can fill in the same form on their website again if I made a mistake in completing it (I didn’t – I have screenshots). The circumstances around the cancellation are a little complex, while I believe I am due compensation if they were to fully reimburse my actual costs for hotel, meals etc. and replied with something sensible, I probably wouldn’t spend too much time pursuing it further. For the refund for the unavailable “regular” fare inclusions, they initially replied with a generic response saying they don’t make any refunds in any circumstances, I responded to the effect that this was untrue and ridiculous. After many months, I have now received a response saying they are unable to “classify” my complaint reason and hence I should resubmit a new complaint through the website form again.

I’m not sure if these responses so far amount to a “deadlock” letter that I understand I need for a next step. If not, how do I go about getting a deadlock letter? It’s very difficult to even find an address for RyanAir to write to. I’m pretty sure that filling in the same website forms again will elicit the same responses. I think I have the possibility to use AviationADR which seem to still cover RyanAir flights to/from Spain. Alternatively, is it possible and better to go via small claims/MCOL in the UK or would it need to be a court in Spain or Ireland?

Many thanks in advance to any advice or suggestions from the expertise and experience of the HfP forum.

[JDB]

If I were in your shoes, I would write to Ryanair by post, saying they haven’t properly responded to your three online claims, giving the relevant reference numbers and a 14 day deadline to respond. If you do decide to do this, you must distil your complaint/claim into a simpler, totally factual, clearer form (1/2 page of A4) if you are to have any prospect of success with Ryanair/ADR/MCOL. I don’t think it is remotely clear to any reader here what has actually happened to be able to give you meaningful advice. If Ryanair doesn’t respond or still denies your claim, probably best to go to ADR.